A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery, or the full title, A
Philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in
place of the Sun, is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby depicting a
lecturer giving a demonstration of an orrery to a small audience.[1]
The painting preceded his similar An Experiment on a Bird in the Air
Pump (National Gallery, London).
The first of Wright's candlelit masterpieces, Three Persons Viewing
the Gladiator by Candlelight, was painted in 1765, and showed three
men studying a small copy of the "Borghese Gladiator". The Gladiator
was greatly admired; but his next painting, The Orrery, caused a
greater stir, as it replaced the Classical subject at the centre of
the scene with one of a scientific nature. Wright's depiction of the
awe produced by scientific "miracles" marked a break with previous
traditions in which the artistic depiction of such wonder was reserved
for religious events,[2] since to Wright the marvels of the
technological age were as awe-inspiring as the subjects of the great
religious paintings.[3] In both of these works the candlelit setting
had a realist justification. Viewing sculpture by candlelight, when
the contours showed well, and there might even be an impression of
movement from the flickering light, was a fashionable practice
described by Goethe.[4] In the orrery demonstration the shadows cast
by the lamp representing the sun were an essential part of the
display. But there seems no reason other than heightened drama to
stage the air pump experiment in a room lit by a single candle, and in
two later paintings of the subject by Charles-Amédée-Philippe van
Loo the lighting is normal.[5]
The painting was one of a number of British works challenging the set
categories of the rigid, French-dictated, hierarchy of genres in the
late 18th century, as other types of painting aspired to be treated as
seriously as the costumed history painting of a Classical or
mythological subject. In some respects the Orrery and Air Pump
subjects resembled conversation pieces, then largely a form of
middle-class portraiture, though soon to be given new status when
Johann Zoffany began to paint the royal family in about 1766. Given
their solemn atmosphere however, and as it seems none of the figures
are intended to be understood as portraits (even if models may be
identified), the paintings can not be regarded as conversation
pieces.[6] The 20th-century art historian Ellis Waterhouse compares
these two works to the "genre serieux" of contemporary French drama,
as defined by Denis Diderot and Pierre Beaumarchais, a view endorsed
by Egerton.[7]
An anonymous review from the time called Wright "a very great and
uncommon genius in a peculiar way".[8] The Orrery was painted without
a commission, probably in the expectation that it would be bought by
Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers, an amateur astronomer who had an
orrery of his own, and with whom Wright's friend Peter Perez Burdett
was staying while in Derbyshire. Figures thought to be portraits of
Burdett and Ferrers feature in the painting, Burdett taking notes and
Ferrers seated with a youth next to the orrery.[9] Ferrers purchased
the painting for £210, but the 6th Earl auctioned it off, and it is
now held by Derby Museum and Art Gallery,[10] where it is on permanent
display, and close to a working replica of a full-sized mechanical
Grand Orrery.
A biographer of Wright, Benedict Nicolson, argued in 1968 that John
Whitehurst was the model for the lecturer,[11] while another
commentator points out the figure's resemblance to "a painting of
Isaac Newton by Godfrey Kneller".[12] Close observation of the adult
faces in the picture reveals that each one demonstrates one or other
of the main phases of the moon – new moon, half moon, gibbous moon
and full moon.[13]
Notes[edit]